


Innocent Bystander

by mneiai



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Challenge Response, Dark Woman Bashing, Does it actually count as bashing when it's (Legends?) canon that she was awful to her Padawans?, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, One Shot, Trans Character, trans character transitions during the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26826760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mneiai/pseuds/mneiai
Summary: Plo might be the closest thing Jon has to a friend.
Relationships: Jon Antilles/Plo Koon
Comments: 15
Kudos: 150
Collections: Marry Plo Challenge





	Innocent Bystander

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [my server's](https://discord.gg/W3BUsdT)October Challenge: Marry Plo.
> 
> I was trying to come up with a ship for this that I hadn't seen before but I could still write as something more than complete crack and was like running through my head of the lesser known Jedi and, well, here you go lol
> 
> I may or may not be doing more for the challenge, but I've paid my dues haha

Plo thought he was the only Jedi for _systems_.

To find two others was...surprising. Until he realized who they were. 

"Master Kuro," he bowed, carefully, attention in the Force darting to the Padawan at her side who he vaguely recognized.

"Knight Koon." She was respectful, but cold, always so cold, in tone and in the Force.

Master Tyvokka had not been fond of her, he remembered, had sometimes spoken out against the way she trained her Padawans. Which was probably why there was no knowledge of them being there--she was taking a detour to force poor Padawan Antilles to do who knew what.

"I have been called by the Force to assist you in your mission."

He frowned behind his mask. Kuro was a successful Master and Padawan Antilles was near her Trial, and not much younger than Plo by human standards, but...it was a more dangerous mission than a Padawan would normally be assigned to.

As if sensing his hesitancy, Kuro continued, "With the three of us, rooting out these pirates should be much simpler."

"...As you say, Master."

Of course she'd appear after he'd had to stop sending comms to the Temple, because of the risk of the signal being spotted by the pirates' scanners. He had no way of running this by the Council.

A typical An'ya Kuro move, according to reports and the Temple rumor mill. 

"Sorry about this," Antilles muttered as they fell back, Kuro taking the lead as though this weren't Plo's mission.

He shook his head. "Reining in one's Master is not actually the responsibility of a Padawan, even if it often feels like it is." 

And, just to re-enforce what he was saying, he sent playful understanding through the Force. From the way Antilles tensed, Plo thought she might not experience anything like that often, and he made a note to bring it up to Tyvokka--it was unhealthy for a Force sensitive, especially as powerful as Antilles, to be without commune with others.

"We'll be out of your hair soon. She doesn't like to stay anywhere for long."

"...Maybe you should both come back to the Temple for a rest? This traveling can't be good for your studies."

She wavered, looking closer to her age than the stern mask she wore for her Master would show, but shaking her head. "I'm studying remotely. I'll be back for the end of term exams, anyway."

"Right."

They did successfully take care of the pirates, though with more outright violence than Plo's plan had called for and a small injury on Antilles' part that she waved away like it was nothing (which Plo would _also_ be making a note to mention). 

Then they separated and Plo moved on with his Knighthood.

***

He gave a brief thought to Antilles when he'd seen the list of successful Trials, but it was over a decade before they met again.

Plo had a Padawan of his own by that point, one he very carefully left behind at the Temple when he went on his most dangerous missions, despite their protests. Antilles had no Padawan, had not even been seen at the Temple in years, except to update his personal records with changes he might have hesitated to make sooner. He'd gained his Knighthood and all-but fled, possibly from Kuro, who was only getting worse, possibly from the foreignness of the Order for someone who had spent so much of his life outside of it.

It seemed like a lonely way of living to Plo, but he would not do Antilles the disservice of bringing it up.

"Jon," he was told, after he'd helped Plo protect his charge--a local political leader--from an assassination attempt. "I'm going by Jon, now."

There was a small table between them, a mostly empty tap caf in vague disrepair around them, but it felt like a private moment. Plo wasn't sure how many other Jedi Antilles had spoken to at all since becoming a Padawan.

"I like it," Plo had said before he could think better of it, not sure if that would sound too much like he thought Jon required approval. "It is simple. Too many human names are...not."

Jon smiled with his teeth, more like a predator might than most humans. "Yeah, I...didn't want anything too memorable. Not with what I do."

"You don't have to wander, you know, just because your former Master does."

"No, that's...that's not the issue. I like it. I don't...I've never felt comfortable in the Temple. Too many people, too much...everything. Even with shielding. It's better out here."

While Plo couldn't relate, he could understand, and he let the conversation move on to some of their recent missions. The stories they exchanged were more detailed and personal than would ever make it into a report.

***

They saw each other off and on after that. If Plo was perhaps the Jedi who saw Jon the most--well, that must just be the will of the Force. Certainly not that Jon had a secure comm which Plo could send his Outer Rim mission updates to.

Eventually, Plo was a nearly appointed member of the Council, still reeling from Master Tyvokka's death and had gladly taken any and all work that the other Councilors had seen fit to give him (which was a _great deal_ of it).

Such as a yearly review of the nomads of the Jedi Order that bothered to check in, sometimes. He'd sent out messages, requesting their presence at the Temple (or a nearby location of their choice), and just had to wait and see who showed up.

He wasn't actually expecting Jon, who had avoided such check-ins for years, to be one of the first.

"I had to see it for myself," was the answer, in a voice gravelly from disuse.

Plo chuckled, motioning for Jon to take a seat on the cushion beside him. "Is it that unbelievable?"

"After the kriff you pulled on Nal Hutta?"

" _I_ pulled? You'll find that the report shows that you had taken charge of that mission. I was an innocent bystander."

Jon cursed, and laughed, the sound more disused than his voice. He didn't spend a lot of time around others and spoke to them even less. _Socialized_ with them less than that.

Which actually gave Plo an idea. 

At the end of the official meeting, he said, "I have a mission coming up for the Council, I wouldn't mind some company. I apparently must spend a few days in a moderately comfortable hut to show the planet's natives our commitment to waste our time on them." 

He'd originally been thinking of forcing it on his friend Qui-Gon, whose Padawan clearly needed a break from him, but he could find something else for them.

Jon knew what he was doing, of course, but did not take much pressure to give in. 

***

The planet was peaceful, calm. Nothing like the Outer Rim stations that Jon could normally be found in and the complete opposite of Coruscant, as well. Plo wasn't sure of the etiquette of bringing another, but the natives did not seem to mind.

There was always some discomfort in long days inside his mask, but Jon provided a welcome distraction. They had brought food, but Jon proved adept at catching it, as well. Plo himself wasn't a bad hand at cooking, although he had to stick to soups and other foods he could eat through his mask.

It was almost...domestic. Something that both of them refused to speak to, because that wasn't something they were comfortable examining. 

By the end of the odd ceremonial retreat, he had almost loosened up to where he'd been once upon a time, a Knight nearly freed of a too-strict Master. He was still a little feral, as all of the wanderers were, but it was more amusing than unnerving. 

Neither of them were expecting a party when they'd returned to the city--it wasn't in any of the reports that Plo had read.

"To the newlyweds!" one of the natives crooned as they made their way to the center of the celebration, shoving a ring of flowers onto Jon's head.

Jon, who was glowering at Plo as though this was somehow his fault. "If I said I didn't know, that I was completely innocent in this, would you believe me?"

"If you make it sincere, I might make your death quick and report it as something less than embarrassing."

There was no doubt in Plo's mind that Jon knew how to cover up truths in his reports to the Council--there was, after all, that kriff Plo had pulled on Nal Hutta--but he was hoping murder might be an exaggeration. 

"Divorce isn't an option?" Jon took a step closer, eyes glinting in the shadow under his hood, but he let his amusement flavor the Force in answer to Plo's own.


End file.
